


Indelible

by Nochi



Series: It Wasn't My Idea [12]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Drabbles, Multi, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 16:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19771645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nochi/pseuds/Nochi
Summary: It's not all at once, or even when it's convenient.





	Indelible

**Author's Note:**

> I do not consent to this work being hosted anywhere except AO3 and Fanfiction.Net.

"Oh, no. You said that part out loud." An awkward silence passes between them, before Vax tugs his glove off. "What are you - "

"Give it a minute," he says, and holds the glove in his teeth as he works his sleeve up to his elbow. Keyleth has her hand over her mouth in shock before he's got the fabric halfway up, eyes wide at the design crawling up the outside of his arm.

"I can't be sure," he says quietly, "but I'd like to think it's for you."

"I...I think I'd like that too," she says quietly, and Vax's heart jumps despite himself. "Bur I - with my - with the Aramente - " She snaps her mouth shut to forestall any further babbling. "I don't know if I'll ever _have_ a mark."

"Okay," Vax says, too quickly, voice too high as he rolls his sleeve back down. "I just wanted you to know. To be aware." 

"I appreciate it," she says, and he figures he must be imagining the sadness in her voice.

\--

Keyleth shows up at Vax's door in the middle of the night, grinning, a dark amber mark crawling up her arm.

\--

Vax tries to hide his hurt when Shaun seems to be avoiding him after he relocates to Whitestone. _Maybe he just needs space,_ Vax thinks. _He's had a rough time. We all have._

But then there's a knock on his door and he opens it to Gilmore, more than a little drunk, sleeve rolled up and eyes confused and pleading all at once.

"It has to be you," he whispers. "There's not - I don't - I know you and - "

"Shaun," Vax says quietly. "Shut up and get in here."

Even with the trepidation of the conversation the three of them are about to have, Vax can't help but warm to the sight of Shaun's relived smile.

\--

She's dead. It's Vex and she's dead and it's Percy's fucking fault. They're doing a ritual and if she dies, Percy's going right after her. Vax will probably assist him in that. 

He has to contribute _something_. He has to _try_. He clenches his fist in his pocket, ignoring the burning itch crawling up his skin. It's been there for a while now, he knows. He's kept his coat on and avoided going shirtless in front of the others for as long as possible. But he knows it's there. And he knows that now, in this moment, with Vex's spirit hanging in the air between them, it's all he has. 

He starts shucking his coat and unbuttoning the cuff of his sleeve.

"What the fuck are you - " Vax falls silent as the wine-stain mark is revealed, inch by inch. 

"I don't deserve it." Percy lays his hand over Vex's, hates the cold stillness of it. "And I don't deserve you. But it's all I have to give. I'm so sorry." 

\--

"I should have told you." Vex's sleeve is torn and bloodied, and she rips the ruined fabric away to reveal the mark on her arm. "It's yours." 

\--

From everything Pike's heard, the mark appears instantaneously. You feel it in your heart and then boom, free tattoo. But hers fades in gradually. Like water seeping through parchment. It gets a little darker every time she looks at Scanlan and her heart does a little flip, and she wills it to fade every time he does something foolish or insensitive or just...is Scanlan. 

And then she reads his letter, and she looks down, and there it is. Like a deep tan on her skin, indelible proof that he's finally, actually done it.

\--

Scanlan has doubts. He knows what he feels in his heart, knows it's the real thing, but the mark never appears. He doubts his heart and looks elsewhere, everywhere, for anyone that triggers the same feelings and the mark on his arm. But it never comes. And his heart remains set on the apparently unobtainable. 

Then along comes Kaylie. He's done enough wrong to her, he thinks, to risk leaving her alone. And that risk is very real, for people like them. Like him. 

The answer is immediate. Of course it would be Pike. Of course he would trust her with his daughter's care. Who else? Who else does he trust with the only good thing he was ever responsible for? 

He sits down to write out his intentions, rolls his sleeve up to keep it out of the ink, and stares down at his arm. Affirmation across his skin, of both his feelings and the validity of his decision. 

Smiling widely, he reaches for the quill.

**Author's Note:**

> A friend challenged me ages ago to write a soulmate AU, and I kind of did with "worth the wear of winning", but I just found this in a notebook and decided to transcribe it. It futzes with the canon timeline of these relationships a little, but it's an AU, that's what those are for.


End file.
